Peterson resigns as safety coordinator

The Montgomery County Board of Supervisors tackled a light agenda at its regular meeting Aug. 2.
The only action item on the agenda was to accept the resignation of the county's safety coordinator, Beth Peterson.
Supervisor Mike Olson asked if there were any candidates who had applied to take over the position in the wake of Peterson's departure. However, no one had applied as of yet.
Supervisor Randy Cooper asked if the position had always been filled by an employee from the auditor's office, and was advised that the role could be filled by someone in any county department.
“Perhaps that's a position that could be filled by someone from the secondary roads office, especially if they have done it before,” Cooper said.
Cooper asked if the position was largely just filing paperwork. Olson advised that was one aspect of the project.
“Beth had things pretty-well set up. They meet once a month, and review things. I know Donna Robinson is on that committee, and might be able to inform us more upon her return. It is a very important position, however,” commented Olson.
Supervisors Chair Mark Peterson said there was no requirement that the position be kept in-house.
“One of the things we can do now that Beth's resignation has been accepted is to consider any advertising to see if there are any applicants,” advised Peterson.
Supervisor Charla Schmid said it may be unnecessary to seek an outside applicant for the position
“I'd have to think about that before we do an ad. At the end of the day, it's going to cost us more money to hire an outside person rather than fill the post in-house,” Schmid said.
Peterson said he was certainly willing to simply advertise for the replacement in-house.
“I'd recommend we draft a memo and send it out to all the employees so that everyone knows that we are looking,” Peterson commented.